This application is for funding to support a small, one-day meeting to explore the relationship between initiatives to address quality improvement and those to address disparities reduction; are the goals of these initiatives complementary or competing? The background for this discussion will be provided by work currently underway to review and summarize available evidence on the relationship between quality improvement and disparities reduction, and to develop a conceptual framework that captures both elements of system change. This background document will serve as a staring point for the day's presentations and discussion. Within this framework, the meeting is designed to explore multiple dimensions of this question, specifically, the challenges of national reporting, differing perspectives on the extent of disparities in health care; the issues that arise in measuring and analyzing disparities in health care; and, the likely impact of emerging innovations in health care on the interaction between disparities and quality improvement. National leaders in the fields of quality improvement and disparities reduction have been commissioned to prepare papers for the meeting. The proposed meeting will also bring together a multi- disciplinary group of health services researchers and leaders to discuss these papers. Following the meeting, the five papers will be revised and submitted for publication as a single volume or special section of a peer-reviewed journal. The proposed meeting, scheduled for May 15, 2007 will be held at the Hotel Commonwealth in Boson, Massachusetts. The Harvard interfaculty Program for Health Systems Improvement will be responsible for the planning and execution of the meeting. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]